DE: Running pure Dark Eldar

Arrogance and cunning.

My approach for pure DE is pretty straight forward, but I have lances on everything that I can and completely skipped melee. My reasoning for that is that any melee options in our codex is just too cliche. There's no glory to be had in this very shooty edition, and the fact that we lost Haywires further limits our use of melee because frankly, our melee options are too slow. Those that are not too slow are either too expensive and not worth the points, or are just flatout subpar.

The direction I want to explore is this:

Updated: 10/14/14
1850
20 KP

HQ:
Archon, WWP, Blaster, Haywire = 115

TROOP:
5x Warriors, Blaster, Venom SC = 120
5x Warriors, Blaster, Venom SC = 120
5x Warriors, Blaster, Venom SC = 120
10x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS/SR = 175
10x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS/SR = 175
10x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS/SR = 175

ELITE:
5x Trueborn, 4x Blaster, Raider Lance/AS/NS = 195

FAST:
Razorwing, Lances = 140
Razorwing, Lances = 140

HEAVY:
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125

Shoot with lances, maybe swap in some Venoms in your list and keep them in the backfield, WWP Archon delivers a killsquad of lances to someone's ass, while Razorwings do the heavy lifting for anti-infantry.  Ravagers can start off on the board shooting, in combination with the 3x smaller Warrior units.  If you want to apply pressure with all your lances, feel free to do so because you'll have 12-15 to shoot off at the beginning of the round.

Night Shields are a scam.  The 3+ Jink is not worth 1/4th the price of the vehicle.  I see what you're saying about the flyers, but the thing is AV10.  If it's going to get shot by anything worthwhile, you're most likely going to eat enough fire to disappear anyway.  In my experience, the guys who take Skyfire in their lists is going to kill whatever they're shooting at in most cases.

If I had extra points to take on NS, it would be on the Flyers, or Blasterchron's pimp-ride. Think about it this way though, even if you don't take NS on the flyers, just blow your load on an angle that can be reached by a board edge. That way, if you take any damage next turn, hopefully you can just Supersonic off.

Other variants of this list can see:

5x Warriors, Blaster, Venom SC = 120

This is my standard Venom Warrior unit.  I use this to pick at my opponents and offer a long-ranged anti-infantry solution.  This unit should be used as long-ranged support, but also advance up if you need additional lance support from 18" away due to the Blaster.  Never forget that you have guys inside that can also shoot poisoned shots.

Otherwise, I suggest taking at least some gunboats in your list:

10x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS/SR = 175

This is my gunboat variant in its current form.  You run it 50 points more expensive, but you get 18 rapid fire poisoned shots from 12" away, in addition to 1 Blaster shot on whatever target that you shoot.  Keep in mind that the Raider's lance is its own unit, so you can pop a transport and then shoot at its contents inside with your warriors.  Being a larger unit also means that it has more staying power than the two above, so the 50 extra points you pay is for more bodies and more anti-infantry.  This one should be best used while close to your opponents, which means DS or steady advancement towards the frontlines.  Also keep in mind that the dudes inside are not subject to Raider's Jink snapfire restrictions, and never forget that Rapid Fire can now shoot from 24", just in case you want to get off a few wounds.

Regardless of setup, all of my vehicles come with Enhanced Aethersails whenever I can afford them.  They allow me to move a consistent +6" more in the TB phase, which means I can correct poor DS or get behind cover to await further opportunities.

And lastly, do remember that all of these are meta-calls.  In a infantry-rich environment like Footcrons, Greentide and Tyranids, Venoms and Gunboats do quite well.  In more Mech, you want 5-man Lance Raiders for the cheaper AT.  No matter what, you still need some kind of anti-infantry somewhere in your list, so it all depends on what the rest of your list looks like as well.  Furthermore, I would not drop the Blasterchron with the WWP. It's seriously one of the best things in the book: Giving you 6 lances where you want it, how you want it.

That's just too good to pass up.  Oh, for Warlord traits, you really want the Strategic tree.  While the 2nd from the DE tree is amazing, you really gotta fish for it, even with the re-roll.